Following Viktor's POV

Viktor woke up, natural light filtering into the room. He groaned, shielding his eyes from the light with his arm as he sat up. He squinted and shifted to sit on the side of the bed, making a mental note to himself to buy some curtains for his room. He pushed himself to his feet, grabbing his cane.

He limped over to his dresser and grabbed some clothes, changing into them. He suddenly became aware of how similar all his clothes looked. A long-sleeved, maroon shirt with thin white, vertical stripes and a white tailcoat over the shirt, accompanied by a blood-red tie that was tucked under the tailcoat and a simple pair of black dress pants.

He limped heavily from his room, heading for the kitchen. A loud groan came from the couch and Viktor paused, gazing over for a moment.

"Do you have to be so loud?"

It was Jayce. Viktor looked around the living room. Jayce's goons must've left sometime during the night.

"Sorry, I'm not trying to be," Viktor replied.

Jayce twisted around, propping himself up on his elbows, wincing and closing his eyes due to the sunlight streaming into the room through the crack of the window curtains.

"Well you are. Way louder than you are when you usually walk."

"Perhaps it's just because you're hungover?" Viktor suggested, shifting his weight onto his good leg.

Jayce managed enough to open his eyes, gazing at Viktor through squinted eyes. Jayce seemed to study Viktor for a moment before speaking again.

"Why are you suddenly putting all of your weight on your left leg?" He asked, curiosity sparking his voice.

The sudden curiosity caught Viktor off guard for a moment. He blinked before waving his hand in the air a bit.

"Oh, my leg hurts the most in the morning usually," he shrugged.

He was expecting an insult from Jayce, though he just let out a "hm" and laid back down on the couch with another groan, pinching the skin on his nose between his eyes. Viktor continued on to the kitchen, opening the cupboard. He narrowed his eyes, heading back to the living room.

"Did your goons eat all of my cereal in one night?" He asked, his nose scrunching up as he caught the faint smell of alcohol.

"Oh. Yeah, I think so," Jayce replied, shrugging lightly.

"Wow. That's wonderful. I love it when random people eat my food without asking me first," Viktor hissed sarcastically.

"Can't you just go buy more?" Jayce asked, annoyance edging his tone.

"I could, but I shouldn't have to. It wasn't their place to eat it."

"Well, that's not my fault," Jayce said, waving his hand in the air, seemingly trying to fan the conversation away.

Viktor tapped his foot on the ground in frustration. Getting an idea, he limped over to the window and opened the curtains fully, allowing the sunlight to stream in fully. Jayce muttered something, covering his eyes with his arm.

"You're an ass," Jayce muttered.

"You're so much worse."

Jayce shifted, sitting up on the couch. He glared at Viktor. Viktor crossed his arms for a moment, leaning on the wall, his cane next to his leg.

"Anyways, I'm going out to get some stuff for my room," Viktor said. "Don't destroy the dorm."

"You're telling me not to destroy the room? That's funny coming from someone who's from Zaun of all places," Jayce scoffed.

"What is that supposed to mean, Talis?" Viktor asked, narrowing his eyes.

"We all know you're an outsider," Jayce shrugged, eyes digging into Viktor. "Outsiders are always the one destroying things around here."

"I-" Viktor's mouth hung open a bit, speechless.

Was this why people avoided him?

"Well- Very well then-" Viktor shifted a bit, his arms dropping to the side. He reached for his cane, feeling defenseless.

He heard Jayce scoff, a smug look settling on the man's face. Viktor lowered his head, his gaze dropping to study the floor like it did most of the time as Jayce continued to watch him. Without a word, Viktor heavily limped from the living room and to his room, grabbing his phone and dorm key.

When he left his room again, Jayce was still sitting on the couch. He called to Viktor as Viktor opened the dorm's door to leave.

"See you later, outsider!" Jayce chimed.

Viktor slammed the dorm door behind him at the words, his fists balling up. He scoffed to himself, keeping his head down as he walked to the elevator.

Outsider.

The word rang in his head as he continued on with his day, heading to a furniture store to look at tables.

Who did that Piltie think he was? He huffed, anger simmering under his skin. He supposed Jayce was right, though. No matter how hard Viktor tried to fit in, he'd always be an outsider in the eyes of any Piltover citizen.

"Can I help you find anything?"

Viktor jumped at an employee's voice. He rubbed his neck in embarrassment due to the jump.

"Oh- I'm just looking for a table for my dorm."

"The tables are right over this way. Are you looking to get one today or some other time?"

After managing a conversation with the employee, Viktor settled on a medium sized table and a chair. Even though he hated it, but he ended up having the table and chair shipped over to the dorm, a few workers helping to carry it to his dorm. Jayce wasn't in the living room when Viktor and the workers walked into the dorm. He shrugged and told the workers where to put the table and chair, thanking them for their help. He paid them and closed the dorm door behind them, sighing.

After returning to his bedroom, he uncovered his sketchbook, the one that he had hidden under his clothes in his dresser. He moved to his desk and sat down, relaxing as he took the weight off of his bad leg. He sat their for a few moments before flipping open his sketchbook, grabbing a pencil. He paused, pondering on what he should draw.

Eventually, he settled on something and lowered his pencil to the page, allowing his mind to relax as he drew, being transported into another world whilst doing so. He paused after about an hour, gazing at his drawing. He nodded, satisfied with his work. With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair, the chair being propped up on two legs. The words that bugged him beforehand seeped back into his mind.

Outsider. Viktor sighed again, unsure of why the word bothered him so much. Perhaps it was because it was used to represent the people of Zaun as a whole negatively. Or maybe it was because it was used to describe him. Someone who would never fit in.

No matter how hard he tried to.